Category: Editorial

• Nigeria rejoins UN peace-keeping mission 10 years after withdrawing due to survival instinct

The concept of United Nations Peace-Keeping mission was born in 1948 when the U.N Security Council ratified the deployment of UN observers to monitor the ceasefire during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Peace-keeping comes in varies forms, it could be through intra or inter-state diplomatic dialogue, observer missions, lightly armed forces monitoring ceasefire often operating in controlled, if not static style, often with the mutual consent of the parties engaged in the conflict. The UN had set mutually agreed standards for peace- keeping in ways that can encourage the parties in any conflict to cease hostilities and embrace peace, towing the international guidelines.

Nigeria has since her independence in 1960 been involved in international peace keeping missions, either as the continental or sub-regional big brother, in conflicts, with a view to keeping the continent more secure. The admirable roles of Nigerian peace keepers in the Congo, Liberia, Darfur, Sierra Leone, etc., are well documented.

There has always been a compelling reason for Nigeria to intervene around the continent, realising the implications of increased conflicts for a continent struggling with post-independence challenges. The country has equally been involved in other United Nations Peace-keeping missions across other continents, like the 1978 Peace-keeping Mission in Lebanon. Global peace is at the core of most nations, hence the commitment to U.N peace-keeping missions despite the human and material resources costs over the decades.

The role of Nigeria in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) from 2003-2018), aimed at fostering continental peace, still stands to its credit. Nigeria had continued to provide troops to U.N. peace-keeping missions across the globe until 2013, when it had to suspend participation due to an upsurge in the internal security challenges arising from Boko Haram and other insurgencies in the North Eastern part of the country. Indeed, Nigeria has had to withdrawn troops from UN missions in Mali and Sudan in other to beef up her own internal security.

However, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari had, between July 2021 and May 2022 sent more than 600 soldiers to Guinea Bissau, Gambia and other crisis-ridden nations despite the dire security needs at home. Many security experts had expressed reservations over that step. They maintained that Nigeria must be seen to be devoid of internal insecurity problems before sending out troops to other countries.

With the slight improvement in internal security, however, the acting Head of Mission and Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei  (UNISFA) , Major-General Benjamin Sawyer, has announced that Nigeria had been inducted back into UN peace-keeping mission on March 15, 2023. The return of Nigeria to the force would definitely boost peace-keeping operations from the continent.

We commend the decision by the Nigerian government because, in a world beset with a litany of internal, regional, sub-regional, continental and intercontinental conflicts, peace-keeping missions are valuable. The world has become a global village and as such, conflicts now have more widespread socio-economic and political implications. The chaotic global economy, an increase in the number of refugees and displaced persons have become great concerns in the world.

Nigeria is the most populous nation in Africa. Since independence, it has always realised its strategic position and taken up peace-keeping missions in and beyond Africa. There is the realisation of the shared global humanity of a world more connected today through technology and ease of movement. So, peace-keeping missions are not really a favour by any nation to another, it is the acceptance of the fact that world peace is a precursor to peace, even internally, and with bilateral and multilateral values.

Humans drive the survival and development of nations. It is therefore imperative that nations try through peace-keeping to preserve lives by protecting civilians who are always the victims of conflicts. Peace-keeping has several other advantages. It helps to douse tension when and if conflicts arise as is always to be expected with humans across the globe, based on all the possible variables that can spark conflicts.  It helps to point out the internal and international rule of law to sides engaged in conflicts.

More often than not, conflicts violate the human rights of citizens of countries engaged in conflicts; the peace-keepers’ main objective is to promote human rights of those who might otherwise become collateral victims of disagreements between political or religious leaders. The interest of vulnerable groups like women, children, the aged and infirm is protected and highlighted by peace-keepers through provision of platforms for dialogue aimed at resolving conflicts and supply of humanitarian materials very often needed in conflict situations.

Returning to U.N Peace- keeping missions for Nigeria is a valid and valued investment in global peace and security, which are preconditions for development. It is a strong affirmation that it takes the efforts of a united and committed comity of nations to save and defend the citizens of the world. Peace and its pursuit has no disadvantages seeing that conflicts is a permanent human flaw across the world. The differences in culture, politics, creed and the vaulting ambitions of leaders would always spark off conflicts.

The two World Wars and their damning consequences have taught the world that peace must either be present or be coerced into existence through multilateral efforts to enhance human flourishing.  It is therefore good that Nigeria is back to this side of the global scene.

• Nigeria has the capacity to produce locally and save billions of foreign exchange

If the report that Nigerian importers are to spend N244 billion on importation of wine  in 2023 is correct, then it is symptomatic of the prevalence of conspicuous consumption in the country and its influence on our foreign exchange in particular, and the economy as a whole. According to New Telegraph, the money, about $485m, is to be spent on fortified, sparkling and still wine alone. This is huge, considering the fact that wine is only a component of alcoholic drinks consumed by Nigerians. We still have beer and spirits, local and imported, in the mix.

New Telegraph, quoting statistics by Statista, is not done yet. It says the money on wine import into the country would rise to $557.96m in 2024. Wine consumption cost Nigeria $346m during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020; this rose to $417.79m in 2022 before the present $485m estimate. Although the amount spent on wine import in 2021 was not stated, the volume was said to be about 33 million litres, and it is projected that this would rise to about 44.82 million litres by 2027, meaning that volume growth would be  about 3.2 per cent next year.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN), broke the figures down, giving amounts that the country spent on wine from the U.S. ($136.6m), the United Kingdom ($31.1m), Spain ($20.96m), Brazil ($16m) and South Africa (15.7m). These figures were for 2021.

What all of these tell us is that the demand for wines has been on the rise and may continue along that path first because of the increasing middle class and second, the shift by many Nigerians from consumption of other alcoholic drinks like beer, stout and spirits, to wine, which they perceive to be a healthier alcoholic beverage.

But then, if we import more wines because we think it is healthier than other alcoholic beverages, is it healthier to our economy? Certainly not. Because it is not free; it comes at a cost: scarce foreign exchange. Moreover, the importation can only create more export opportunities for the countries from where we import the wines. This means more job opportunities for their peoples while we keep bemoaning unemployment in Nigeria.

Wines of South Africa (WOSA) brings the import vividly home in its revelation that about 3.44million bottles are imported by Nigerian traders yearly. According to it, this was forecast to grow by 12 per cent last year. South Africa is the second biggest exporter of wines, with  about 12 per cent by volume share. We can only imagine the quantum of bottles of wines that Nigerians gulp annually.

Perhaps this would not have been a problem but for the impact of this conspicuous consumption on the country’s scarce foreign exchange. The billions that we splash on wine import could have been saved or diverted to more productive causes. It is just one of the very many ways that Nigeria waste resources. We are so obsessed with everything foreign, from fashion to water, tissue papers to body and hair creams, foods and snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, exotic cars, etc. It is this obsession with everything foreign that has driven our exchange rate to its present N750 to an American Dollar. Yet, it doesn’t seem we are worried. At best, government makes pious statements of concern without taking appropriate measures to check the worrisome trend.

Consumption of wines is by choice and there is nothing wrong with that. What is wrong is when we have to cough up hefty sums to import them. If Nigerians love wines, they must be ready to produce them locally. A situation where we continue to shun the locally produced alcoholic beverages despite the fact that they are cheaper than imported ones is bad for our economy.

This is where the government must come in. We agree that standards must not be sacrificed on the altar of patriotism but the environment should be made for businesses to thrive in the country to encourage local producers and make their products competitive. With regard to wines, we have all it takes to make quality wines in the country. If the government must raise duties on imported wines to discourage their importation, so be it.

In some other countries, like South Africa, wine production is not seen as a big deal. Indeed, it is more of local businesses done in cottages. Yet, the quality compares favourably with imported ones. Nigeria can adopt the same model. What matters is the political will to make it happen.

• That the jobless pulled living funds from their pension contributions is sweet.  But the gall is that those savings should be for their evening years

That unemployed Nigerians, as at December 2022, pulled out N207.91 billion from their pension savings, was sweet relief for the drawers.  That relief helped to stanch extant pains and get families going.

But the same relief could turn long-term angst.  It was evening savings withdrawn at noon.  If those jobless folks fail to secure gainful employment to make good the withdrawals, it’s likely hunger and want could stare at them at old age, after working all through their young and productive midlife.

By law, disengaged contributors that fail to get re-hired, for four months running, could pull 25 per cent of their total pension savings as temporary relief.  That is sweet cake from the pension reforms, baked by the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency.

The concept of compulsory savings, as part of pension, arose from the near-collapse of the old system, in which pensioners were subjected to all forms of indignity, many of them falling dead on queues, awaiting re-validation for rights that should be routinely theirs, after a life-long of work.  

It is, therefore, good that the reforms are providing relief in tough economic times.  But beyond that temporary relief, it is still a bad dream, posing as sweet reverie.  Old age money can’t be quaffed at noon for whatever reason, without something terrible giving.

The long and short of this beguiling paradox is to urgently fix the economy to provide jobs for the jobless; and also near-completely eliminate under-employment: non-gainful jobs that make a worker work for mere chaff all his active years, when what he should labour for are rich grains.

The severity of the job challenge can be gleaned from ensuing statistics.  Quoting the National Pension Commission (PenCom) quarterly reports, a report in The Guardian of March 21 told a tale of largely progressive withdrawals as unemployment bit hard.

In 4th quarter 2022, the withdrawals from pension savings hit N111.73 billon, up by N6.4 billion, from the N105 billion withdrawn at the 4th quarter of 2021.

These, however, were just symptoms.  The real disease was — and still is — declining jobs.  Nigeria’s most recent data on unemployment was from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in 2020, which claimed 33.3 per cent of the workforce was unemployed.  That was a whopping third of the labour force.

But with the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment  howling that might have been a statistical hyperbole, NBS appears to be taking its time before releasing fresh and more robust job data.

“This new concept and approach of conducting the survey will add new questions on persons employed but not at work, long-term unemployment, job satisfaction, discouraged job seekers, and information on decent work,” The Guardian quoted Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran, Nigeria’s Statistician-General and boss at NBS as saying.  ”These new approach involves data collection from a careful sample of 35, 000 households, spread over 12 months, instead of the large 33, 000 samples surveyed every quarter.”

But while awaiting the NBS new data, something is crystal clear: the COVID-19 economic paralysis, which raged from 2020 to part of 2021, the fuel shortage crisis, which bit anew from December 2022 and raged till February 2023, and the Naira re-design chaos which still rages could have even more telling impacts on jobs.  That is why not a few economists await the 1st quarter 2023 NBS data with bated breath.

What all of these reinforce is a very parlous job environment that could impact even more negatively on pension savings, as more and more workers fall on the dry patch.

As President Muhammadu Buhari rounds off his eight-year tenure, it is imperative for President-elect Bola Tinubu to give the economy special attention as he promised during electioneering.

Fortunately, by the Buhari government’s clear infrastructural rebirth, and by giving agriculture a fresh kiss of life, to re-develop a new real sector after the massive disruption of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) years from 1986, the new government could pick agricultural processing as low-hanging fruits from its formative days.

That would achieve two goals: food security to sate mass hunger; and delivering fresh jobs for thousands of youths, working in agro-allied factories.

But the ultimate game-changer is to fix the power conundrum once and for all.  Power would energize the economy and unleash the people’s creative potential.  Then, it would be a brand new and vibrant real sector and general economy.

• Different folks, different strokes. While one is making giant strides, the other limps

For two major producers of crude oil, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, it is different folks, different strokes. While Nigeria is perpetually complaining of crude theft running into millions of U.S. Dollars daily, Saudi Arabia is smiling to the bank. While Nigerians have sometimes seen the abundance of the black gold in their country as a curse, for the Saudis, it is perpetually  a source of blessing.

Saudi Aramco, the largely state-owned oil company in Saudi Arabia has announced  record profits of $161 billion from its operations, last year. Its Nigerian equivalent, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPCL) is yet to release its financial results for 2022, but its profit after tax in 2021 was about N674 billion, (about $1.4 billion at today’s official rate of N460/$). In 2020, NNPC’s profit was about NN287 billion ($623 million). Neither is anything near Aramco’s. This alone is enough to explain the disparity in the standards of living in the two countries.

We are not saying that Nigeria and Saudi Arabia should be equally rich or that their standard of living should necessarily be the same. No. In the first place, Saudi Aramco is the biggest crude producer in the world. It is one of the few such corporations with the capacity to determine the supply dynamics, in accordance with market dictates. Second, Nigeria could not have been in the same category with it revenue-wise because of the huge disparity in the population of both countries. There are about 36 million Saudis, whereas Nigeria is estimated to have over 200 million people. Then, Saudi Arabia, in spite of its low population, has a bigger quota of crude oil than Nigeria.

Whereas the Arabian country currently produces over 10 million barrels per day (bpd)  by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) quota, Nigeria has 1.8 million bpd quota. Even then, it does not have the capacity to meet the quota.

Last month, its production capacity was 1.3 million bpd. Although this is a significant improvement over its 900,000 bpd last year, it still represents a deficit of about 400,000 bpd. In effect therefore, it is natural that other things being equal, the two countries cannot be equally blessed. 

Significantly, what makes the difference between both countries is the way and manner they run their oil corporations. Although the two countries’ oil corporations are majorly state-owned, the Saudis have a better handle on Aramco than Nigerians have on NNPCL.

Opacity, government meddlesomeness, hefty crude theft, pipeline vandalism, all of these and more impact NNPCL’s productivity and, ultimately, revenue.

The situation is such that, were there to be a role reversal today, with Saudi Aramco being run the way NNPCL is run and vice versa, it is a matter of time for the former to fall into the conundrum that the latter is perpetually enmeshed in.

Aramco’s success shows what we can also do if we run our oil sector with integrity. The company makes a lot of money from refineries. Our own refineries have become more of  conduit pipes on which we lavish billions in turn-around maintenance (TAM) with little or no returns. Meaning that some fat cows are the ones benefitting from the TAM allocations.

What has been happening in our oil sector in recent decades is at variance with the philosophy of those who founded the sector. Their idea was to domesticate activities in the sector. This was why, at inception, the Nigerian National Oil Corporation (NNOC), NNPC’s precursor, bought complete rigs just like Algeria, with the aim of making our local technicians understudy the expatriates who would come over to fix them, in order to enable the technicians have a good grasp of the technical know-how. Unfortunately, this was ³ater to give way to our people’s preference to travel abroad to learn what would have been more profitable for the country to do locally.

Things were so bad that, for decades after the discovery of oil in commercial quantities in the country, it is the expatriates in the multinational oil companies that were measuring the quantity of oil they lifted daily from the country. And it was whatever they gave as volume that we accepted; we had no way of verifying their claims. It was only of recent that the NNPCL said it had acquired the capacity to determine that independently.

We thought the problem was in the name, hence, we changed it from a corporation (NNPC) to a limited liability company (NNPCL). Yet, not much has changed. Perhaps it is too early to come to that conclusion.

Of course, it is not that NNPCL does not realise its challenges; it does. That explains some of the measures the company has taken in recent times to deal with the inadequacies. These include attempts to ramp up production to fill its current huge deficit, the pipeline protection contracts it has struck with some locals, especially in the Niger Delta region, its whistle-blowers policy by which it rewards people who tip it off anonymously in cases of oil theft and pipeline vandalism. All of these, as well as its announcement that it can now monitor pipeline breaches real-time are geared towards increasing efficiency, revenue and ultimately, profit. Again, that would depend on the sincerity of purpose to make these reforms work.

Even if they work well, they are still not enough. The company has to be more transparent in its operations. It must be ready to throw its books more open for transparency and accountability in the real sense of the concept. Above all, government interference in its affairs must be significantly reduced, if not eliminated. This will go a long way to check corruption which is also a major problem in the sector as it is in other facets of our lives. The huge success that the Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) project has become is pointer to the fact that oil and gas business in Nigeria can do better with less government interference.

• Jailing of two party bigwigs a signal that a thing like this won’t be condoned any longer

Elections in Nigeria since independence have been marred by too many irregularities. For each election cycle, the level of irregularities seems to increase. Even though the military had intervened in Nigerian political history at different times ostensibly to correct the wrongs, the politicians seem not to have mastered how to nurture democracy. Largely, they seem not interested in free, fair and credible elections that is a settled matter, even in smaller African countries.

Elections provide people the opportunity to choose their leaders for both executive and legislative duties in a democracy. Since the return to democracy in 1999, Nigeria has recorded flawed electoral processes not just during elections. This is because political parties are structured in ways that elections through party congresses and primaries provide the opportunities for the parties to elect those to fly their flags in general elections.

The Nigerian political party system has not become structurally strong enough to handle seamless processes; the result is that there has been a corruption of the processes by politicians, who in their quest for power tend to break rules. Unlike in developed democracies where campaign funds are monitored and guided strictly by laws, the Nigerian system is not yet structured to make campaign funds and spendings to be strictly streamlined to ensure accountability. Politicians have therefore abused the system in ways that have affected the democratic processes negatively.

It was therefore, a relief to most Nigerians to learn about the conviction of two chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for two years in Bauchi State for attempting to influence the outcome of the 2015 elections with N142m bribe. Saleh Gamawa and Aminu Gadiya were found guilty by Judge Hassan Dikko of Federal High Court in Bauchi, on two counts of conspiracy and money laundering totalling N142, 460,000 levelled against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

With the just-concluded general elections and several reported cases of electoral offences, most of them bordering on financial inducements, vote buying and selling and ancillary economic crimes, the conviction of the two top politicians more than seven years after the offence was committed is commendable, even if we feel that justice in this case took too long. We believe that it is better late than never.

The jailing of the two party chieftains is a good warning to those that have been apprehended by the EFCC during the just-concluded elections. We just hope that the judiciary and the prosecutors, the EFCC and possibly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can be more thorough and diligent in prosecuting the many offenders that were arrested, before, during and after the 2023 elections. The system must be purged of those that violate the 2022 Electoral Act as amended, and the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Those who commit electoral crimes must be made to face justice. The fact that most of the offenders are high net-worth individuals must not discourage their prosecution. Democracy is as good as the sanctity of processes of the elections.  It is encouraging to see that despite the fact that those convicted are party bigwigs, they faced the law of the land.

We must commend the EFCC and possibly the police that made the process of prosecution easier. The jailing of the two party stalwarts would send the right signals to all those who assume that the law is mainly for the common man.

We feel that the intelligence to make more arrests of offenders in the future is even easier now with technology, the cashless sytem and the internet. Most of the tricks for vote-buying and selling can now be tracked with the aid of technology. It is no longer news that the errand boys are caught, it is now easier to apprehend the big politicians who for long have been corrupting the system with financial inducements. Democracy should never be for sale.

Beyond monetary inducements, there is a myriad of electoral and financial crimes that the system must begin to nip in the bud. As we have seen during the just-concluded elections, economic crimes do not stop with monetary inducements; there are equally other electoral crimes that the system can begin to prosecute the offenders with the help of technology. Cases of ballot box snatching, result falsification, voter intimidation, and systemic disenfranchisement are all electoral offences that the system must work hard to eliminate basically because those acts taint and stunt democracy.

• There is no justification for their continued stay in office

President Muhammaudu Buhari’s government appears to have shot itself on the foot in its last days, and may have to wobble until its tenure ends on May 29. The currency swap has become an economic fiasco, and tragically, the government is not making enough efforts to ameliorate the farce. By several accounts, the nation’s economy has shed about N20 trillion since the imbroglio, as productivity has weakened, with many small business enterprises closing down. 

Until the governors who sued at the Supreme Court to determine the legality of the unilateral policy of the Federal Government, threatened the Central Bank Governor (CBN) Godwin Emefiele and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, SAN, with contempt proceedings, the clear and unequivocal judgment of the apex court was treated with utmost contempt. 

Such level of irresponsibility should not be condoned, and so the two officials should either resign immediately, or be sacked.

And while the officials prevaricated, the nation’s economy haemorrhaged. A detailed report by ‘The Guardian’ Newspaper showed the consequences of the fiasco. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) reports that the nation suffered N20 trillion losses arising from the deceleration of economic activities, crippling of trading activities, stifling of informal economy, contraction in the agricultural sector and paralysis of the rural economy, with corresponding job losses in thousands. 

The chief executive of CPPE, Dr. Muda Yusuf, further explained that retail transaction across the country continues to suffer. In his words: “Nigerians have not been this traumatised in recent history. The economy is gradually grinding to a halt because of the collapse of payment systems across all platforms. Digital platforms are performing sub-optimally because of congestion, physical cash is unavailable because the CBN has sucked away over 70 percent of cash in the economy and the expected relief from the Supreme Court judgment has not materialised.” 

The President of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Tommy Okon, noted that the economic advisers to the government have failed, and we agree with him. Atop the list of failures is the CBN governor, Mr Emefiele. His time as the governor of CBN would rank as the worst in the country’s history. Apart from his jejune economic policies, he abused his office, by using the paraphernalia of office for political hustling.

He has also engaged in alleged terrorism financing, according to the Directorate of State Services (DSS). Indeed, but for the intervention of some forces in the presidency, he was earmarked for arrest and prosecution by the DSS. As we write, he has not cleared himself of that accusation, neither has the charge been dropped. His continued stay in office therefore amounts to condoning an alleged terrorist financier in the nation’s central bank. The consequences are grave.

We also demand that AGF Malami be sacked forthwith. The shoe he is wearing is too big for him. The economic fiasco Nigerians face was partly caused by his ill-advice to the president. When the apex court ordered the maintenance of status quo, he advised the president to disobey the order. His argument that the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction was trashed by the judgment of the court, and instead of accepting the judgment, he claimed that he does not advise the president on economic issues.

If any person has brought shame and ridicule to the office of the AGF, Malami is number one. Even when the Federal Government’s lawyer in the matter, former AGF Mr Kanu Agabi, SAN, advised that the judgment of the apex court be obeyed, Malami demurred. Clearly Emefiele and Malami are like a contagious disease. We urge President Buhari to ask them to resign, or sack them.